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    remains unrivalled and unapproached in that rare combination of qualities , patience of observation , comprehension of details so as to see their relation one to another ,, and the whole which they form , and power of deducing general laws from particular and heterogeneous phenomena . Whiston , Clarke * and Newton commence tjiiejong ^ nd honoured series of modern Unitarian reformers . They , especially tiieniwoHfoTrneTr ^ i ^

    great results of which we are now beginning to behold . They taught men to think on the Trinitarian controversy , to think with freedom , and to avow with boldness . From thence a line of worthies extends to this moment , and still will extend , broadening and thickening till , like the shadow on the dial , it pass all over the world , suffusing it with the light of truth , and the radiance of

    benignity . 'A nanism in Whiston and his contemporaries and successors was the harbinger of Humanitarianisrn in Lankier , Lindsey , and Priestley , just as John prepared the way for Jesus , and the dawn precedes the day . Of Lardner , J ^ indsey , and Priestley and a small but intrepid band of allies * the thausanjd ^ oLUnjtar now in existence are the immediate descendants . Their labours

    under God ' s blessing and the Bible ' s aid , have led to the great revolution in sentiment which England , Ireland , and especially America , exhibit . Their writings watered and replenished the soil : their sacrifices and sufferings nurtured the moral feelings , and prompted and gave effect to the virtuous resolve of using freedom of speech as well as of thought . Their conclusions , and , together with them , their arguments , circulated from mind to mind . One church transmitted their influence to another . Ministers

    gradually declined from the height of orthodoxy till they reached the firm and pleasant soil of truth . Congregations outgrew the corruptions of ages of darkness . Disqualification and ignominy at home became , in God ' s hands , the means of sending the truth abroad ; and now , at the end of a century , the extremities of the earth interchange kindred sentiments , and foster each other ' s zeal and love , united by the golden bond of a common recognition of

    the one supreme and benignant Father . It is proper to add , that the cases are more numerous than it is easy to compute , in which the change from Trinitarianism , to Unitarianism has beep the result exclusively of a careful and devout study of the New Testament—cases in which neither Whiston nor Priestley , but Christ only , was the guide—in which the aid came not of man , but of God ' s blessing , on upright intentions andjiligent ^ research .

    The progress of Unitarianism is the decline of Trinitarianism . To measure that progress with precision is rather what we would than what we can do . Accurate information we have sought with more diligence than success . That our knowledge of foreign lands should be deficient is not so surprising as that we should be forced to rely on unauthenticated documents for the state of

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    334 THE TRUTH TELLER , ? '

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Nov. 1, 1833, page 334, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2625/page/14/